Christ had retired to a secluded place with His disciples,
but this rare season of peaceful quietude was soon broken. The disciples thought
they had retired where they would not be disturbed; but as soon as the
multitude missed the divine Teacher, they inquired, "Where is He?"
Some among them had noticed the direction in which Christ and His disciples had
gone. Many went by land to meet them, while others followed in their boats
across the water. The Passover was at hand, and, from far and near, bands of
pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem gathered to see Jesus. Additions were made
to their number, until there were assembled five thousand men besides women and
children. Before Christ reached the shore, a multitude were waiting for Him.
But He landed unobserved by them, and spent a little time apart with the
disciples. {DA 364.1}

From the hillside He looked upon the moving multitude, and His
heart was stirred with sympathy. Interrupted as He was, and robbed of His rest,
He was not impatient. He saw a greater necessity demanding His attention as He
watched the people coming and still coming. He "was moved with compassion
toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd." Leaving
His retreat, He found a convenient place where He could minister to them. They
received no help from [365] the priests and rulers; but the
healing waters of life flowed from Christ as He taught the multitude the way of
salvation. {DA 364.2}

The people listened to the words of mercy flowing so freely
from the lips of the Son of God. They heard the gracious words, so simple and
so plain that they were as the balm of Gilead to their souls. The healing of
His divine hand brought gladness and life to the dying, and ease and health to
those suffering with disease. The day seemed to them like heaven upon earth,
and they were utterly unconscious of how long it had been since they had eaten
anything. {DA 365.1}

At length the day was far spent. The sun was sinking in the
west, and yet the people lingered. Jesus had labored all day without food or
rest. He was pale from weariness and hunger, and the disciples besought Him to
cease from His toil. But He could not withdraw Himself from the multitude that
pressed upon Him. {DA
365.2}

The disciples finally came to Him, urging that for their own
sake the people should be sent away. Many had come from far, and had eaten
nothing since morning. In the surrounding towns and villages they might be able
to buy food. But Jesus said, "Give ye them to eat," and then, turning
to Philip, questioned, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may
eat?" This He said to test the faith of the disciple. Philip looked over the
sea of heads, and thought how impossible it would be to provide food to satisfy
the wants of such a crowd. He answered that two hundred pennyworth of bread
would not be nearly enough to divide among them, so that each might have a
little. Jesus inquired how much food could be found among the company.
"There is a lad here," said Andrew, "which hath five barley
loaves, and two small fishes; but what are they among so many?" Jesus
directed that these be brought to Him. Then He bade the disciples seat the people
on the grass in parties of fifty or a hundred, to preserve order, and that all
might witness what He was about to do. When this was accomplished, Jesus took
the food, "and looking up to heaven, He blessed, and brake, and gave the
loaves to His disciples, and the disciples to the multitude." "And
they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of the
fragments, and of the fishes." {DA 365.3}

He who taught the people the way to secure peace and
happiness was just as thoughtful of their temporal necessities as of their
spiritual need. The people were weary and faint. There were mothers with babes
in their arms, and little children clinging to their skirts. Many had been
standing for hours. They had been so intensely interested [366] in
Christ's words that they had not once thought of sitting down, and the crowd
was so great that there was danger of their trampling on one another. Jesus
would give them a chance to rest, and He bade them sit down. There was much
grass in the place, and all could rest in comfort. {DA 365.4}

Christ never worked a miracle except to supply a genuine
necessity, and every miracle was of a character to lead the people to the tree
of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. The simple food [367]
passed round by the hands of the disciples contained a whole treasure of
lessons. It was humble fare that had been provided; the fishes and barley
loaves were the daily food of the fisher folk about the Sea of Galilee. Christ
could have spread before the people a rich repast, but food prepared merely for
the gratification of appetite would have conveyed no lesson for their good.
Christ taught them in this lesson that the natural provisions of God for man
had been perverted. And never did people enjoy the luxurious feasts prepared
for the gratification of perverted taste as this people enjoyed the rest and
the simple food which Christ provided so far from human habitations. {DA 366.1}

If men today were simple in their habits, living in harmony
with nature's laws, as did Adam and Eve in the beginning, there would be an
abundant supply for the needs of the human family. There would be fewer
imaginary wants, and more opportunities to work in God's ways. But selfishness
and the indulgence of unnatural taste have brought sin and misery into the
world, from excess on the one hand, and from want on the other. {DA 367.1}

Jesus did not seek to attract the people to Him by
gratifying the desire for luxury. To that great throng, weary and hungry after
the long, exciting day, the simple fare was an assurance not only of His power,
but of His tender care for them in the common needs of life. The Saviour has
not promised His followers the luxuries of the world; their fare may be plain,
and even scanty; their lot may be shut in by poverty; but His word is pledged
that their need shall be supplied, and He has promised that which is far better
than worldly good,—the abiding comfort of His own presence. {DA 367.2}

In feeding the five thousand, Jesus lifts the veil from the
world of nature, and reveals the power that is constantly exercised for our
good. In the production of earth's harvests God is working a miracle every day.
Through natural agencies the same work is accomplished that was wrought in the
feeding of the multitude. Men prepare the soil and sow the seed, but it is the
life from God that causes the seed to germinate. It is God's rain and air and
sunshine that cause it to put forth, "first the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn in the ear." Mark 4:28. It is God who is every day
feeding millions from earth's harvest fields. Men are called upon to co-operate
with God in the care of the grain and the preparation of the loaf, and because
of this they lose sight of the divine agency. They do not give God the glory
due unto [368] His holy name. The working of His power is
ascribed to natural causes or to human instrumentality. Man is glorified in
place of God, and His gracious gifts are perverted to selfish uses, and made a
curse instead of a blessing. God is seeking to change all this. He desires that
our dull senses shall be quickened to discern His merciful kindness and to
glorify Him for the working of His power. He desires us to recognize Him in His
gifts, that they may be, as He intended, a blessing to us. It was to accomplish
this purpose that the miracles of Christ were performed. {DA 367.3}

After the multitude had been fed, there was an abundance of
food left. But He who had all the resources of infinite power at His command
said, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost."
These words meant more than putting the bread into the baskets. The lesson was
twofold. Nothing is to be wasted. We are to let slip no temporal advantage. We
should neglect nothing that will tend to benefit a human being. Let everything
be gathered up that will relieve the necessity of earth's hungry ones. And
there should be the same carefulness in spiritual things. When the baskets of
fragments were collected, the people thought of their friends at home. They
wanted them to share in the bread that Christ had blessed. The contents of the
baskets were distributed among the eager throng, and were carried away into all
the region round about. So those who were at the feast were to give to others
the bread that comes down from heaven, to satisfy the hunger of the soul. They
were to repeat what they had learned of the wonderful things of God. Nothing
was to be lost. Not one word that concerned their eternal salvation was to fall
useless to the ground. {DA
368.1}

The miracle of the loaves teaches a lesson of dependence
upon God. When Christ fed the five thousand, the food was not nigh at hand.
Apparently He had no means at His command. Here He was, with five thousand men,
besides women and children, in the wilderness. He had not invited the large multitude
to follow Him; they came without invitation or command; but He knew that after
they had listened so long to His instruction, they would feel hungry and faint;
for He was one with them in their need of food. They were far from home, and
the night was close at hand. Many of them were without means to purchase food.
He who for their sake had fasted forty days in the wilderness would not suffer
them to return fasting to their homes. The providence of God had placed Jesus
where He was; and He depended on His heavenly Father for the means to relieve
the necessity. [369]{DA 368.2}

And when we are brought into strait places, we are to depend
on God. We are to exercise wisdom and judgment in every action of life, that we
may not, by reckless movements, place ourselves in trial. We are not to plunge
into difficulties, neglecting the means God has provided, and misusing the
faculties He has given us. Christ's workers are to obey His instructions
implicitly. The work is God's, and if we would bless others His plans must be
followed. Self cannot be made a center; self can receive no honor. If we plan
according to our own ideas, the Lord will leave us to our own mistakes. But
when, after following His directions, we are brought into strait places, He
will deliver us. We are not to give up in discouragement, but in every
emergency we are to seek help from Him who has infinite resources at His
command. Often we shall be surrounded with trying circumstances, and then, in
the fullest confidence, we must depend upon God. He will keep every soul that
is brought into perplexity through trying to keep the way of the Lord. {DA 369.1}

Christ has bidden us, through the prophet, "Deal thy
bread to the hungry," and "satisfy the afflicted soul;"
"when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him," and "bring the
poor that are cast out to thy house." Isaiah 58:7-10. He has bidden us,
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
Mark 16:15. But how often our hearts sink, and faith fails us, as we see how
great is the need, and how small the means in our hands. Like Andrew looking
upon the five barley loaves and the two little fishes, we exclaim, "What
are they among so many?" Often we hesitate, unwilling to give all that we
have, fearing to spend and to be spent for others. But Jesus has bidden us,
"Give ye them to eat." His command is a promise; and behind it
is the same power that fed the multitude beside the sea. {DA 369.2}

In Christ's act of supplying the temporal necessities of a
hungry multitude is wrapped up a deep spiritual lesson for all His workers.
Christ received from the Father; He imparted to the disciples; they imparted to
the multitude; and the people to one another. So all who are united to Christ
will receive from Him the bread of life, the heavenly food, and impart it to
others. {DA 369.3}

In full reliance upon God, Jesus took the small store of
loaves; and although there was but a small portion for His own family of
disciples, He did not invite them to eat, but began to distribute to them,
bidding them serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands; and the hands
of the disciples, reaching out to Christ Himself the Bread of [370]
Life, were never empty. The little store was sufficient for all. After the
wants of the people had been supplied, the fragments were gathered up, and
Christ and His disciples ate together of the precious, Heaven-supplied food. {DA 369.4}

The disciples were the channel of communication between
Christ and the people. This should be a great encouragement to His disciples
today. Christ is the great center, the source of all strength. His disciples
are to receive their supplies from Him. The most intelligent, the most
spiritually minded, can bestow only as they receive. Of themselves they can
supply nothing for the needs of the soul. We can impart only that which we
receive from Christ; and we can receive only as we impart to others. As we
continue imparting, we continue to receive; and the more we impart, the more we
shall receive. Thus we may be constantly believing, trusting, receiving, and
imparting. {DA 370.1}

The work of building up the kingdom of Christ will go
forward, though to all appearance it moves slowly and impossibilities seem to
testify against advance. The work is of God, and He will furnish means, and
will send helpers, true, earnest disciples, whose hands also will be filled
with food for the starving multitude. God is not unmindful of those who labor
in love to give the word of life to perishing souls, who in their turn reach
forth their hands for food for other hungry souls. {DA 370.2}

In our work for God there is danger of relying too largely
upon what man with his talents and ability can do. Thus we lose sight of the
one Master Worker. Too often the worker for Christ fails to realize his
personal responsibility. He is in danger of shifting his burden upon
organizations, instead of relying upon Him who is the source of all strength.
It is a great mistake to trust in human wisdom or numbers in the work of God.
Successful work for Christ depends not so much on numbers or talent as upon
pureness of purpose, the true simplicity of earnest, dependent faith. Personal
responsibilities must be borne, personal duties must be taken up, personal
efforts must be made for those who do not know Christ. In the place of shifting
your responsibility upon someone whom you think more richly endowed than you
are, work according to your ability. {DA 370.3}

When the question comes home to your heart, "Whence
shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" let not your answer be the
response of unbelief. When the disciples heard the Saviour's direction,
"Give ye them to eat," all the difficulties arose in their minds.
They questioned, [371] Shall we go away into the
villages to buy food? So now, when the people are destitute of the bread of life,
the Lord's children question, Shall we send for someone from afar, to come and
feed them? But what said Christ? "Make the men sit down," and He fed
them there. So when you are surrounded by souls in need, know that Christ is
there. Commune with Him. Bring your barley loaves to Jesus. {DA 370.4}

The means in our possession may not seem to be sufficient
for the work; but if we will move forward in faith, believing in the
all-sufficient power of God, abundant resources will open before us. If the
work be of God, He Himself will provide the means for its accomplishment. He
will reward honest, simple reliance upon Him. The little that is wisely and
economically used in the service of the Lord of heaven will increase in the
very act of imparting. In the hand of Christ the small supply of food remained
undiminished until the famished multitude were satisfied. If we go to the
Source of all strength, with our hands of faith outstretched to receive, we
shall be sustained in our work, even under the most forbidding circumstances,
and shall be enabled to give to others the bread of life. {DA 371.1}

The Lord says, "Give, and it shall be given unto
you." "He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he
that soweth with blessings shall reap also with blessings. . . . And
God is able to make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all
sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work; as it is written,—

"He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the
poor:
His righteousness abideth forever.

"And He that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply
and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your
righteousness: ye being enriched in everything unto all liberality, which
worketh through us thanksgiving to God." Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6-11,
R. V., margin. {DA 371.2}